5 Ways to Avoid Elastic Pants During the Holidays

We are getting a lot of questions here about avoiding the seemingly inevitable weight gain that comes along with the holiday season. Eating healthy during the holiday season seems impossible to some but it's not. Planning travel itineraries, shopping for gifts and cooking can can be overwhelming but foods that bog you down, make you feel sluggish and cause blood sugar crashes will worsen your stress levels. Foods we often associate with the holiday season are sugary, frosted baked or floury goodies that make us feel warm inside but are chemical warfare inside your body. I must ask, is it the goodies that make us feel warm or is it the memories of seeing our family and friends around a positive & happy time of year that the memory of the food reminds us of? I think it's the latter. So being that food is something we clearly our holiday memories to but still have a direct impact on our level of stress let's make it in a less gut busting, less regrettable way. Shall we?

Although it'd be wise of me to recommend you eat organic vegetables and organic meats for Thanksgiving and Christmas I think it'd be a little more fun to go over and show you how to make your old holiday treats into healthier versions of their evil selves.

1. Bake with almond flour or coconut flour rather than wheat flour. Both of these are gluten free, lower on the glycemic index and easier on your waistline. They can be found in local grocery stores or in bulk on amazon.com. Any baked goods can also be sweetened with natural applesauce or honey depending on the recipe rather than sugar. You can also make up for a lack of sweetness by using spices such as nutmeg, cinnamon and/or cloves as alternatives.

2. Store leftovers- Eating your favorite treats isn't the only enemy in the war on weight. Over indulging in general can crash your metabolism and disrupt a good meal plan. Don't be afraid to put the fork down and live to fight another meal. Pick your splurges, pick one and use that as your enemy. But when you try to fight an entire mob the odds aren't in your favor to survive. Example: If you choose to indulge in alcoholic beverages, adding sweets to the mix is suicide. Pick one or the other if you are choosing to indulge. On a side note high carb foods such as stuffing, sweet potatoes and breaded sides do apply as indulgences.

3. Make your own holiday coffees- Starbucks and other companies make an incredible amount of business in their holiday coffee lines. These coffees are LOADED with sugar, artificial sweeteners and syrups which are poisonous to your waistline.

Drink	Calories	Carbohydrates (grams)	Sugar (grams)	Caffeine (mg)
Peppermint Hot Chocolate	440	68	61	25
Gingerbread Latte	320	40	37	150
Pumpkin Spice Latte	380	51	49	150
Peppermint  Mocha	410	63	54	175

Source: http://www.starbucks.com/menu/catalog/nutrition?drink=all#view_control=nutrition

Yikes! Now here's a great homemade low sugar alternative:

Pumpkin Spice Latte that takes a whopping 5 minutes of prep time.
Ingredients:
1 cup coconut milk
1 ½ T. pureed pumpkin
2 T. organic vanilla extract
2-3 T. raw organic honey (optional)
½ t. ground cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
½ cup strong coffee
Pinch of cocoa powder
Directions:
1. Brew 2 cups of strong coffee
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat coconut milk, pureed pumpkin, and honey until milk is steaming
3. Remove from heat, stir in vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg
4. Fill bottom half of cup with milk mixture, then fill the remaining space with your coffee
5. Sprinkle with cocoa powder

 compliments of: www.robbwolf.com

4. Share healthy holiday recipes- In most scenarios its a safe bet to make sure you're the one cooking the food. Get help online with an abundance of online recipes to make your meals healthier. Be sure to check for buzz words when choosing which recipes to try and to avoid.

Green light phrases:
Gluten free- gluten is a product that is in all wheat products and has been shown to cause inflammation inside the body.

natural- good natural sweeteners are agave nectar, all natural honey, unsweetened applesauce and cacao.

Stay away from: 
sugar free- which usually means artificially sweetened.
non-fat- which usually flavored by high carb substitutes which boosts insulin, make you sleepy and starts the process of fat storage
breaded- adding breading to a food is simply adding empty calories. If it's the saltiness you crave try using garlic instead. 
calorie free- if it doesn't have a calorie in it, it better be water.

5. Stay aware of your goals at all times- Believe it or not if rule number 5 isn't followed in all occasions then everything above are simply words on a page. Most people who get bit by the sweet tooth are not unaware that what they are eating is bad for them. In fact, haven't you been around someone in your very own office who jokes about how bad they eat as the cupcake is on its way down? Being healthy isn't always a knowledge base issue. There isn't a magical tip in the world that can overpower a lack of discipline. If weight loss is your goal, eat whole foods that fuel your body a large majority of the time and enjoy life's treats along the way with no guilt.


Looking for more information or not finding what you're looking for? Email me at mritter@wellbridge.com and I'll would love to hear your requests!

Nutrition Guidance: Ask the trainers

Hey Fitters,

I want to make something very clear to every one of you. Fitness is a process! No one's learning process is ever complete. Just go cruise around google and you'l find people like Mark Rippetoe and Dan John, two deeply respected men who have been in the fitness industry for decades sound in their principles, still deciding and discussing what's best for their athletes. Again, their principles are solid but their methods are always under question. Did you understand that? If these guys have been obsessed, successful and plain bad ass fitness professionals for decades and they are still evaluating themselves, how come you aren't? As you move through your goal achievement process allow yourself to challenge your method and consistently train your body because you love it, not because you hate it. This philosophy will make failing and succeeding both fun and productive it their own right.

In my line of work I deal with a lot of clients looking for general "FITNESS" and weight loss. A majority of these people are indeed searching for something far more important than just weight loss but I cover that in a different blog. But if we go back to the F.I.T. principle we always can circle back to the principle that food is the basis of all fitness has to offer. Clean eating is the only way to get that lifestyle change we all desire. Defining clean eating is the important piece in that equation. What does it mean to eat "clean"?




Ask the Trainers at HIAC: General Nutrition Tips

FAQ's
Do I need to cut out ALL processed food to be healthy?
Essentially the vague definition of healthy is being free of disease while perpetuating an immune system strong enough to fight off potential disease. This means that simple fact that you are not on prescription medication does not mean you are necessarily healthy. Processed foods and refined sugars have been proven to encourage inflammation and increase your risk of autoimmune issues and disease. The more you cut out the less likely you are to have setbacks in the future. That is important if you are at all concerned about having future setbacks.

Do I need to stick to a certain calorie count?
If I eat 2000 calories of donuts for a month my body will respond entirely different to 2000 calories of just lean meats and vegetables. Although that is an extreme example it's just a way to illustrate that food choice does matter! Losing weight is an issue of learning how and why fat is retained in the first place. It has alot more to do with excess sugar causing adipose tissue (body fat) to be created. Cut the sugar and eat food that will fuel good workouts and great sleep!


Do you really expect me to eat this way my whole life?
Yes.

 
In answering these questions, the rules of nutrition that revolve around the same few principles that have existed for eons differ only in the willingness of the person stick to them. How every goes about achieving that healthy eating lifestyle can change based on the needs and wants of the individual.  Make sure before you dive into any diet plan or meal plan ask yourself how much your are really willing to give to it and expect as much in return.

Good rules of thumb when deciding to endeavor into a clean eating lifestyle:
1. Ask yourself: Is this diet asking me to eat less and or eat well?
2. Stick to natural foods (meats & veg, nuts & seeds, some fruit, little starch, no sugar)
3. Do not restrict your body from fuel. A car goes much slower when its out of gas.
4. Consistently educate yourself. If you are not seeing the results you want to see, get a book or hire a trainer with a good track record of providing long term weight loss. I happen to know a great one ;)

4 Lessons Learned in 4 Years

Guess what?! This month marks my 4 year mark as a fitness professional..woohoo! That is 4 years of learning, learning and more learning. I'm overwhelmingly grateful to be able to work in sweatpants and do what I love to do everyday. I still cringe at the idea of going back to my old job as an audio/video tech (my tv wires still give me nightmares). It won't work for me ever again. Through my short career I have learned tons of lessions and here are 4 of them:

1. I'm an idiot-  I fail my way to success. I am in a self-assessing business and to frankly there are alot insecure people in it including me! But I have settled some of my insecurities by coming to terms with lesson #1. I find peace knowing that the best of the best in my industry feel the same way. The space between myself early in my career and now lies in personal exerience. Again, I am consistently failing my way to success. Often the principles I base my programming today are a product of my very own screw ups. When I tell clients they need to squat, deadlift, clean and press it's because I didn't for a long time and got nowhere. I also didn't do them with my clients because I was convinced they were "too advanced for them," for a long time and they got nowhere. I take alot of pride in earning the trust of my clients but just like earning trust, fitness is a process. The chronology of my life since weight loss looked a little like this:

* I got fat- I learned how to eat, started working out and lost weight.



2006 at 220lbs :)

 * I wanted to never get fat again- I got certified as a trainer
* I learned I had been doing everything wrong my whole life. I was not interested in bodybuilding, yet I was lifting just like one :(
* I took on full body workouts instead of bodybuilding split routines and strength exploded
* I lifted too heavy and hurt myself
* My squat sucked- i fixed it.
* My power clean sucked- I fixed it.
* I got into cross training and random physical challenges and loved it.
* I didn't do any mobility work/joint care education or practice and hurt myself
Q: Quit or dont quit? A: Quitting is for quitters
* I started doing mobility ed/practice work + lifted core lifts only (Squat, Clean, Deadlift, Press, Pull Up)
* I got better at all of those things and better at nothing else.
WTF!!!!!!!!!????
* Back to the basics of technique lifting but added bodyweight exercise and gymnastics. Also developed the philosophy of training towards my weaknesses. After a long frustrating road I realized that avoiding my weaknesses made me weaker.

P.S. I was advised by a strength coach that the previous process will be repeated the rest of my life :) yay!
This is tiring isn't it?

Where I'm at now: The above paragraph did a great job of making me look like a failure. Fact is, this system of failing forward has gotten me the greatest gains in my life. I am stronger than ever. I am faster than ever. I am now injury free and know how to prevent chronic injury from happening. Should it happen, I know how to treat most issues and if I dont know, I know what expert to defer to. Through all of this I've helped countless people lose 35+ lbs and Betty Barrett of Avon Park, FL lose 109 lbs. Every year I get an incredible amount of text messages and christmas cards from clients thanking me for helping them see fitness and themselves in a way they had never before. Through failing forward with myself, I have changed others lives. And that makes being an idiot worth it.

2. Competition makes you alive, education makes you thrive- Getting around a bunch of like minded people for a single cause is uplifting. Regardless of whether you compete with yourself or others physically or mentally the challenge of competition drives us to perform at a level we cannot perform by ourselves. If this doesn't make complete sense to you now, try it. It never fails.

Active.com is a great place to find local fitness events in your area.

Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.
- -- Thomas Jefferson advising his daughter Martha, 1787.

Luck is a dividend of sweat. The more you sweat, the luckier you get.

tnation.com is a great collection of successful bodybuilders and strongmen/women who go beyond the scope of conventional wisdom and produce world class results through practical programming.

startingstrength.com- Mark Rippetoe is one of the worlds most reknown strength coaches. When he speaks; listen. He has a few wonderful books called Starting Strength and Practical Programming

journal.crossfit.com- a great resource for everything crossfit. Crossfit is known to produce some of the worlds most impressive feats of strength. They get a bad rap because of perception that they are out to make you puke. Dive into this site and you'll see that it's one of the more well rounded systems available and theres something for everyone to learn.

3. You can't out exercise a bad diet- Human kinds greatest strength is our greatest detriment. The reason we'ved survived as a race despite disease, natural disasters and war is the same reason we can hurt ourselves repeatedly and neglect to learn from it. Some do, some don't. That reason is simply that humans are very hard to kill. Very hard. I found that out immediately after becoming a bootcamp instructor. It's hard enough to get people do something they know is good for them. It's even more amazing to me how once they do, they will pay out of pocket a great amount of money to be beaten senseless in workouts but never change their diet.

robbwolf.com- a health first approach to nutrition and one of the best resources for nutrition on the net!

myosynthesis.com - a little geeky but wayyy worth it!

                                           

4. Fitness IS for everybody- Rich Froning won the 2012 Crossfit Games which is a grueling fitness competition dedicated to crowning the worlds fittest man. I have dedicated my training to appear in the crossfit games 2015. That being said, if you merely look at the competitors that make it all the way to the finals you will see there is a clear cut genetical gap between myself and the competitors. Some of them include:

*Height: I'm 6', the average is 5'8 which gives a great mechanical advantage in oly lifting and gymnastics.
*Strength: Average power clean is 300+lbs. Mine is 185lbs and sloppy.
*Experience: Many of these guys have dedictated 2-5 consistent years of training before making it this far. I have 6 months under my belt.

My height puts me at a disadvantage in this sport before the first event is even announced. I'm not mad about it because I set my expectations high for myself regardless. My strength is lower than the average athlete my size and I've never been refered to as a "strong" dude. I've always trained casually like most people do but not competitively since college. My definition of casually is lifting hard 3-4 days per week and eating fairly clean but not calculated. However, if I use my time constraints or my disadvantages as an excuse to quit or give up, take days off, stop my lifts early than I am only doing an injustice to myself.

One of my favorite sayings: "To choose to compare yourself to others is unwise. You will continuously fail and and never reach your own potential." Focus on your own efforts in reaching your own potential. Getting the best out of yourself on each individual day is the only way to see steady gains.

I see the light!
On positive note, you are in control of what is possible. Any moment can be trained for, recognize what it is you wish to do and set a progressive program to get there. Roger Banister was the first person in recorded history to break the 4 minute mile barrier. No one had ever done it before him! Since the day he broke that barrier over 100+ people have since beaten his record. All it took was 1 person to neglect conventional wisdom and work to achieve his own potential. There is no age, gender or gentic advantage/disadvantage that can stop you from achieving your goal. Relying on advantages makes you lazy and untrained. Allowing genetic disadvantages to turn into self defeating beliefs, diminish gains and otherwise convince you to rationlize that failing is acceptable.

Scale Liberation: Weighing in on Happiness

ATTENTION ALL:
I'm offering a one time only offer that runs until the end of the October 2012. Come get pre-approved to get your own scale hammer smashed by yours truly. I REPEAT: come in before the end of October with your scale and I will smash it in front of your eyes. Come and feel the liberation that you rightfully deserve and here's why:


I'm a little frustrated here folks. When I hear someone say "I need to lose weight," I hear "I need to be happy." That obviously brings up the question "Why is this person concerned about their weight?" Clearly somewhere along the lines in the mainstream medical and fitness community someone convinced them that there was a correlation between weight and health/happiness. Despite that sounding perfectly logical there unfortuately is not a whole lot of truth to it. The only reason that theory has any staying power is that there is an iota of truth to it. After helping countless people I can indeed say the ones who have lost weight are happier than the ones that didn't. The big issue, the ones who trained for the scale and ate by total calorie counts are already having weight management issues because they refused common sense and overwhelmed their body with under eating and overexercising. That nastiness can only last for so long before a wall is sure to be hit. The ones who focused solely on becoming physically powerful, eating all natural non processed food and adopting successful thinking have managed their weight and more importantly their happiness. In reality, if someone was truly convinced they could be healthy and fully respected by others then there would be no other reason to lose weight. So by deductive reasoning everyone just wants happiness. Am I wrong? If I am stop reading now, there is nothing here for you to learn. If that was a correct assumption I insist you take this into consideration: Are you unhappy with your weight or are you unhappy with the habits you've built (laziness, self defamation, lack of esteem, ) that keeps the weight on? Weight retention is not a source of unhappiness, it's a symptom of a much larger issue. Let's work on treating the source not the symptom.

What is happiness?

* Confidence- complete confidence is your ability to provide assurance you may succeed in a given situation. This certainty can only be achieved through leadership training, physical strength, and self acceptance.

“Confidence is a change in attitude that makes the seemingly unworkable workable. This dosen’t mean that all of the sudden everything is going to go our way. But it does mean that we acan appreciate life even when things don’t go our way. We have the resources to live in the challenge. That is the expression of the courage of a shamabla warrior.”  Venerable Chogum Trupunga

* When your actions meet your morals- "I know I shouldn't but I did anyway," is a red flag you are consistently acting against your own values and will consistently make you unhappy. Align with your values and self acceptance will come.

How have you come to define happiness? Is it money, iphones, shoes & clothes or having a skinny body at an "ideal" weight? None of those give you love, relationships, or real confidence. Just look at Jennifer Anniston (i know shes getting married but c'mon, it's been a long road :)). Confidence and self acceptance does. If those ideals were true happiness then celebrities would never be in rehab, consistently get divorced , there would be no eating disorders, and "Mo Money Mo Problems" wouldn't be my favorite song of all time.

Weighing in on happiness

The world has come a long ways recognizing that a) we don't have the same farmhand lifestyle we used to have 100 years ago and b) we have to do things differently. Therefor you have a choice and a major life decision to make. There are countless dietitians, doctors and trainers that promote the BMI, old food pyramid, counting calories based on general guidelines given for Americans of all shapes and sizes regardless of their exercise habits and basing your health on your weight. You can choose to stick with that method which has continuously risen the count of chronic illness and made us the sickest country in the world by a long shot. The big problem with this is that there is absolutely no correlation between your health and your bodyweight. I repeat, NO CORRELATION. Skinny and frail can equal unhealthy and unsexy just as someone who is 40% bodyfat. Is it possible to be healthy at a "non-ideal weight?" How is it possible that boney arms, transparent rib cages and no butt became sexy? Conventional wisom tells us that thin is in but truth be told, happiness will never be found on the scale. You have that or you can adopt a mindset that healthy foods fuel a healthy body, lean muscle can only be grown through hard work, healthy blooded bodies with lean muscle will be lean. Lean healthy bodies then go on to complete races and do their first pull ups. Underfed over stressed and weak bodies are unstable emotionally and physically and will not be able produce enough changes to keep you motivated the rest of your life.

What if you looked the way you do now but lived on the moon? How would you feel about your body?

If the answer is happy, keep doing what you're doing. If not, then what needs improvement? Do you need to lose body fat or gain muscle? What are your goals and are they based on your own self acceptance? Or is your self acceptance based on society's perception of you? Is there any truth to your defnition of happiness? If it's based on vanity I am warning you, you will be chasing happiness your whole life.

So what are good signs of progress?

1. You feel good

2. You feel good.

3. You feel good.

4. In and out of the gym you are getting stronger and are progressing into more advanced movement skills.

5. You are physically able and energetic enough to handle whatever challenges life throws at you. Things won't always go our way but how capable are you to handle obstacles and conquering them?

6. You feel good

Finally
Do you qualify for a free scale hammer smash?

If you can answer yes to one of these 3 questions, you qualify for a free scale hammer smash:

1. If somehow you rationalize a difference between yourself and the woman in this story- Here's an example of how you can look great without losing a pound.
2. If you told your trainer how much better your clothes fit yet weighed yourself at night and it ruined your mood.

3. You can personally identify with the 5 ways to stay unhealthy.

I have given you a wealth of information in this blog and I must admit some of my tone is accusatory and angry.  It is also one of my most information packed entries yet. It is only because I care and I see the potential in each and every one of you. Weight loss/management can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. I encourage you all to reevaluate your goals but before you do I want you to consider this: are you building your happiness/confidence through self acceptance or false idols? Are you training strictly for the mirror or for better health? Adopt the "function over form" philosophy. Genetics will determine how your body looks at its athletic peak. Your body will look its best when you are training to reach your athletic potential but you can only control so much. Control your diet and your mindeset...I can take care of the rest ;)

The Result Cult 60 Day Challenge

Thanks to everyone who participated in my workshops these last few months. Everyone is already seeing the difference in their mood, appetite, athletic performance and body fat.

In my last Good Calories vs. Bad Calories workshop I worked primarily around the acronym of F.I.T. that trainer Jason Grace and I collaborated on months ago. Our experience makes us believers that fast results come from programming with not only the right ingredients, but also the correct emphasis of prioritization.

Our acronym F.I.T. stands for : Food. Inspiration. Training in that order.

Food- I know many people who try to out exercise their diet (see my blog post "The Exercise Myth"). At least long term this never works. A bad diet encourages poor health and eventually poor healthy or even poor fuel in general will hamper or kill even the best workout programs.

Inspiration- Train your butt off for 90 days and you will see results. Results are inspiring arent they? After the 90 days are over then what? You need to find something new and exciting. If you've committed to a lifestyle change you will undoubtedly repeat this process for years. You must learn the art of inspiration or you're very likely to fall on and off the wagon. It's all about discipline. Now is the best time to get inspired with our unlimited information highway at our fingertips and more people getting involved in fun, natural outdoor fitness and support systems. Get on it now!

Training- Choosing the right training system is very important but beginners can see results very easily. They can also never be seen if you have no clue. Consult a professional first (just about every gym offers free pt sessions to start). Once you become more "Fit" you better have a pretty good idea what you're doing or overuse injuries can start hashing and specific programming is necessary to continue seeing results.




After the workshop I was approached by a few of my clients and bootcampers about this online Paleo Diet Challenge. The challenge is 60 days of strict Paleo eating with strength and conditioning tests before and afterwards. There was a registration fee, t shirts & prize giveaways and some really cool challenges throughout the 60 days. I thought it was a great idea. In fact it was such a good that later that night I thought to myself that I was a complete dummy if I didn't take this opportunity to help grow the culture that I've dreamt of creating ever since I got here early last year. A cult if you will of health first minded, self esteem growing, empowered females and males who enjoy 100% of life.

I approached many people about this and so far we have 15-20 people that are excited to get involved in 60 days of clean eating and training while logging the results. One is even doing a full executive blood test! I can't be more elated. Starting September 3rd these individuals are jumping in and taking full responsibility for their health and I'm naming this group appropriately The Result Cult.

This cult is not an evil hippy religious group. There are no secret meetings, no kool aid, and no higher power we are praying to. The Result Cult is a name I've given to a group of people, myself included, who have taken it amongst themselves to generate a group support system to inspire, educate and train themselves into optimum health. Training your body to become skinny is a drastically different approach than training to become healthy. We are training to become healthy and as a by-product of optimum health, stay lean. We train because we love our bodies, not because we hate it.

There are no monthly dues or special stickers. Anyone can decide the group isnt for them at any time he or she chooses. There are no pieces of gold colored plastic to put on a mantal for winning either. The draw and reward is the empowerment a group of like minded individuals feed into each other, inspiration through education and brainstorming and the inequivical physical results you get from a complete F.I.T. program.


If you are interested in joining in the 60 day challenge at any point please contact me at mritter@wellbridge.com for more details.

Thanks and have a great day!

What's on Your ipod?

Good morning Result Cult :)

I love a variety of music when I'm running and lifting. I wanted to give you a glimpse into my favorite songs to run and lift to. Feel free to download these songs but just a fair warning, there is some bad language in some of them ;)

Great Running songs to download:

* Mumford and Sons- Little Lion Man or The Cave
* Nelly- Air Force Ones
* Florence and the Machine- The Dog Days are Over
* T-Pain- Take Your Shirt Off
* Maroon 5- Harder to breathe
* Bruce Sprinstein- Born to Run (duh)


Songs for Heavy Lifting:

* Three Days Grace- Riot
* Anything Aerosmith!
* Tenacious D- Rock is Dead or Throwdown
* Earthquake by ?
* ACDC- Back in Black
* Guns n Roses- Welcome to the Jungle

Ranking best cooking oils and a paleo dessert

CHOOSING THE BEST COOKING OILS

It used to be easy to choose cooking oils. There were perhaps 3 to 4 choices at most, and they were all some variant of "vegetable oil." Now oils have their own aisle in the supermarket (usually across from an equally confusing display of vinegars). When eating an all natural diet you should try to achieve an overall balance of dietary fats from all foods, in which the omega 6 to omega 3 fat ratio is less than about 3:1, preferably closer to 2:1. Omega 3 fats have been known to lower cholesterol and improve heart health in amazing fashion. The best way to do this is with a variety of seafood and to cook with appropriate cooking oils as part of your regular diet. The best oils are low in saturated fat and high in either polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fat.

Best:

-Flaxseed oil. *Low omega 6 to omega 3 ratio of .24

-Canola Oil (2.0) followed by mustard seed oil  (2.6)(primarily found in stores specializing indian cuisine)

-Perilla oil has a ratio of .27 BUT is rarely found in the U.S.. Get it if you can

Better:

-Walnut Oil- 5.1 ratio of omega 6 to omega 3 but still good because it contains mainly cholesterol-lowering polyunsaturated fats.

Good:

-Olive oil and avocado oil: 13 to 1 ratio. You can use them, but if you want to improve your omega 3 levels you can blend them with canola or flaxseed oil.

Bad:

-Peanut Oil- although promoted as healthy, cholesterol-lowering oil because of its high monounsaturated fat content (46% total fat), it has turned out to be one of the most artery clogging of all oils. In fact, it is routinely used to induce coronary artery atherosclerosis in monkeys and other laboratory animals. This is possibly due to peanut lectins (proteins that bind to carbohydrates).

-Soybean Oil- 7.5 ratio of omega 6 to omega 3's. Contain the lectin WGA, one of the most widely studied and potentially most damaging of all dietary lectins.

Great Dessert Recipe: makes 4 servings

Banana "Ice cream"

* Mash 4 peeled bananas in a mixing bowl until completely mushy

* Add 1 Tbsp of Vanilla Extract and mix well

* Put in freezer for 25 minutes or until partially frozen

Compliments of Paleo Diet

Improvise, Adapt and Overcome

Hey Fitters!

Thanks again for reading. I really appreciate the support from everyone. Today's blog will make for an entraining read for most of you ;)

This last week has been exceptional. Both personally and profressionally. Before I dive into the meat of this I'd like to say that I make a conscious effort to avoid making this blog a status update on my life or a diary. Most of my daily conversations, speeches and training sessions do inspire me to write, but the topics are all themselves their own. While narrowing down my list of potential topics of the week, I try to decipher which is the most inspiring and has somewhat of a unique angle on fitness, nutrition or successful thinking. This week last week required an exceptional amount improvisation and creativity on my part to tackle some issues I believe everyone reading this has encountered or will. Here is some awesomeness from the week and some unique problems we had to tackle

Long time client Katie Fernald has had some grip issues with some key lifts. Among other tactics we pulled out the "fat bar" deadlift to spread the hands out and force a more cognicent clamp on the bar.

Kettlebell class is rocking. The ladies are learning complex movements, becoming better athletes and looking the part ;)

Lights out! This is a picture of the lights out bootcamp from March. The gym lost electricity, they didn't lose their mojo.



Long time bootcamper, Habiba hits a personal best 500m in 3:15. Booyah! If you're not using the rower on a regular basis, you're likely missing out a viking-like fitness level.



Thank you all so much for your awesome effort and I will keep shouting you out on the blog.

P.S. burpees make you sexy

Losing Weight- Key Points

Today I wanted to give you my top 5 key points to keeping the gut looking legendary.

Top 5 weight loss tips from FitterwithRitter:

1. Decide whether or not it's important to you. The reason diets never work is because they are shortcuts. If losing weight is truly important to you then cut the crap and make a strong commitment to yourself. Everyday, renew the commitment. The rest of the tips aren't worth a damn if you're scared to put your foot down.

2. Information is inspirational. Commit to educating yourself because one of the more demanding parts of weight loss is overcoming ignorance. No one is completley stupid when it comes to nutrition but ignoring good advice is likely something that got you to where you are now. Read up (a good resource is "The paleo solution") and put the advice to use right away. As you learn your motivation will dramatically increase.

3. Don't count calories, eat natural foods- All calories aren't created equal. Hitting your appropriate calorie intake won't mean squat if your eating processed foods. Processed food is filled with ingredients which decrease growth hormone, spike insulin levels, increase cortisol and ultimately keeps you sick. Stay away from canned and boxed food as well as the word FLOUR.

4. Lift weights- Lifting weights burns calories like a mother. Cardio won't do it alone. If you want to get better at running then run. But losing weight and keeping it off requires a strong body with enough muscle tissue to keep your metabolism high. Otherwise you're on the rollercoaster...

5. Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever rely on a diet plan to fix you- Eat meats and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar for the rest of your life. I can hear your brains saying "Do you really expect me to eat like this?" Answer: If you made the committment, educate yourself daily, and commit to exercise then avoiding self ruining food is easy.

Turkish Get-Ups. Why?

Hey Fitters,


Who's been the cool guy in the ab area doing Turkish Get-ups lately?

We do a ton of these in Fitter-land and I'd like to give a brief rundown of the how's and why's of the turkish get-up. My goal is by the end of this, you'll have a new found understanding of not only how to do a proper turkish getup but why we do them.

So here goes.

The how from one of my fav's, Kettlebell expert Mike Mahler:

VERY IMPORTANT: Choose an appropriate weight. Too light of weight will allow you to muscle through the movement with bad form. It's a bad lie to tell yourself. Too heavy and well.....you know.

The Why

Aside from the Turkish Getup fitting in well in the middle of workouts, it is a fantastic gauge of not only your core strength, shoulder stability and hip mobiltiy but also your ability to maintain your cs, ss and hm through various planes of movement.

What? Basically, if all of those parts are working like they should that bell overhead doesn't move. It's just about as much of a strength movement as it is a yoga movement. I'm only making that analogy because yoga is most notorious for precise flowy joint movment. Those that have been exposed to heavy lifting for a number of years know strength training can be seen in the same light. Onward though....

Think for a minute. Why do we preach core strength? Why do most of you want a strong core?

I'd bet my last dollar most of us have the same reason in mind: To stay out of the hospital.

So if we're training to stay injury free we have to identify the common injuries that put us there.

- Back crap- planking is not the only form of core stability training. Your core strength runs and hides in the corner once you start moving. Get off the floor and use your core. Work on squatting, deadlifting and hundreds of other cool goodies to make sure your core strength doesn't leave you when you drop your keys and you have a bag of groceries under your arm.

- Knee crap- Immobile hips and ankles are triggers for knee overuse and blowouts. Sitting all the time will weaken and tighten all kinds of stuff in your hips. Squat with full range of motion, make your hips slidey, learn to foam roll and quit walking like a pirate.

- Shoulder crap- Stand up. Put your hands over your head. Higher. If you can't hold your hands directly over your head with straight elbows,in line with your ankles without arching your back there's some 'ish there that is affecting you big time. Let's fix it with a variety of overhead presses, shoulder mobility and stability exercises. That scapula needs to hold it's own or something else will...for a while.

So you have addressed some major issues and your moving much better. Squats and lunges look low. Core stays solid on overhead presses, overhead squats and lunges. Knees feel better because the hips are moving fluidly.

Let's test.......put it all together and you have Wahhlaaa (did i spell that right) the TURKISH GET UP!!

Grab a light kettlebell and try it....both hands*

Now move up one weight. Retest. Rinse and repeat until form begins to break down.

When you feel your form start to break down due to a heavier weight, make note of what is breaking down and when. The bell won't lie. Appropriate weight will expose your weaknesses and force you to address is with tenacity.

For more information on this topic or how to join the Fitter with Ritter Class of 2012 please email me at mritter@wellbridge.com. Hope to hear from you soon!

Man vs. Food

Though we're presumptiously one of the most medically advanced civilizations on earth we have become the flabbiest and sickest cultures of all time, something I dont think most people have fully realized. I feel theres a failure to understand the need for a drastic overhaul in the american lifestyle mainly because individuals dont feel like their are part of the problem. Again, the average american thinks he isnt.

Aside from being unhealthy we are also very stubborn. According to the book "Selling the invisible" by Harry Beckwith, the average American thinks he isn't one. Despite the fact we know it was altogether wrong, most still have the old American food pyramid on their dinner plates. Being that a full and healthy life is something everyone wants I ask you the reader (even the evil hippy vegans :) how much have you REALLY valued your diet on a day to day basis? Is there a a correlation between your health and your weight? How about your health and your diet? How much do you know about fats? Artificial sweeteners?

Like most I'm sure your life is consumed with work, school and personal crap. So I want to help get your game up and I want to make it as easy as possible. All of my 1 on 1 clients are recommended the book 'the paleo solution' for its simplicity and impactful delivery. I don't care if you follow the diet plan but information in it is essential. Because of the impact its had on my clients I want to share it with you (no I don't get royalties from this).

Go to amazon.com

Search: The paleo solution

Spend $15 on a book that may impact the rest of your life.

Am I doing these right?

How important is technique?

Technique is a fun topic to cover. Everyone knows its important. My clients here me griping to them all day about their form on wall balls, squats, lunges, etc.. The ones that take their technique seriously are the ones who see their results continue upward while the ones who wont eventually find a ceiling which they finally bruise the top of their melon due to repetitive head butting.

3 things happen when you take the time to learn and pay to detail from the beginning:
1- you have to start over less often. Just ask my brother what dead lifting 135 for 5 reps in a gym full of people feels like.
2- you have to start over less often. Just ask me what squatting 135 for 5 reps in a gym full of people feels like.
3- you have to start over less often. Just ask anyone who's hit a plateau due to overuse injuries or shear neglect.


If you dont know proper form stop being lazy, sit at your computer like a fit person and use the greatest information system in the world at your fingertips. If you're a Harbour Islander please email me at mritter@wellbridge.com and I would love to setup an assessmewnt with you.

The squat is a high payoff movment so next blog I'm posting a video on proper squat form, a self check system, and specific warm up to ensure your hips are nice and slidey and core stays tall and warrior like.

Til tomorrow

What Your Trainer Ate Today

Ladies and gents,

Just a sweet little addition to my blog is "what your trainer ate today." Its a chance for me to help give you Meat and veg eating manimals recipe ideas. To be honest it helps me stay on post as well ;)

Post workout meal after squat day:

Bourbon spiced chicken sandwich (removed the bun) with pepper jack cheese, lettuce, tomato, and little BBQ sauuuuuccceeee and a fruit bowl....delicious

Wish I had a picture to make you slobber on your keypad. Next time!


Later guys and more on oly lifting soon.

Body weight ballin

When you don't have a gym handy on workout day, build your own bodyweight only workout using these 5 bodyweight baller tips:

1. Push ups and all variations of them- one thing that will never change until then end of time is that push ups will make you strong. Mix it up using different hand placements and body angles. Youtube is full of different push up ideas.

2. Double and single leg exercises- make sure to include both. When bodyweight squats are two easy try single leg squats by supporting one leg behind you on a couch or chair and squat! Increases the perceived load on each leg making them a killer.

3. Run! You're a human being dammit. Act like it :)

4. Use time sets like :30, 1:00 and 2:00 rather than traditional sets and reps. See how far you can run or how many reps you can do inside a certain time frame. Score your workout this way and get better from workout to workout.

5. Push and pull- stay balanced by using a horizontal push, horizontal pull, vertical push, vertical pull method to build the upper body portion of your workout. It will help you stay balanced and work ALL of the minor muscles with major movements.

Nutritional planning checklist

Nutrition planning

Daily.

1. Prepare snacks for tomorrow
2. Bring water bottle

Weekend.

1. Prepare a large quantity item (should last 3-4) days
2. 15 steam fresh bags a week
3. 1 treat
4. Buy meats!!!!! Enjoy a wide variety of lean protein packed meat!

To Oly or Not To Oly Part 1

The magic is in the movement, the art is in the programming, the science is in the explanation, and the fun is in the community.

Before I dive into olympic lifting itself let's take this first part to help define strength training

In our world strength is king. To heighten ones strength means to heighten ones confidence, abilities and resistance to injury. In short, strength is proportionately correlated with quality of life. In today’s world however true strength is severely misunderstood by the public and thus true strength training is a diluted topic with some of the oldest and most effective methods going untouched. Strength training is essentially the coaching of precise and efficient movement patterns, sensory overload under extreme muscular demands resulting in maximum force production. Although we have our biases, programming is never about the exercises themselves; it’s about the outcome. In order to even begin to dive into programming the clients purpose must be established first, and then the program follows. A program may be a rudimental and uninteresting as it needs to be but must be efficient and effective towards the purpose. Define a purpose for yourself then the program follows.




Dan Russell Tampa, FL owning 321 lbs



As broad a brush as strength methodology may be, the definition of strength is precise and can be quantified. Due to the bad ass nature of the neuromuscular system, the method in which we achieve maximum force production is virtually irrelevant….yes….irrelevant. Nearly any stimulus that provides overload to the NM system will essentially trigger strength adaptations (max power, sensory overload, muscle definition, max force production) but that is where our profession begins. Through the last century traditional strength training has become a panoramic scope of concepts spawning hundreds of experts in individual sectors. Maximum strength can be achieved in a variety of ways. Athletic performance for example is a very popular and fairly new sector of the strength training industry; roughly 30 yrs old. Although athletic performance doesn’t necessarily focus on maximal strength but maximal power in many planes of motion. Although they may seem similar there are clear differences. Movements you would see in traditional strength training such as the squat are crucial to athletic development, however a traditional strength block lacks critical components of sport such as power which is the rate of force produced by an athlete. Force production is important in almost any arena but an athlete’s ability to absorb force and the rate at which the force is returned is what gives the athlete an edge.

Keep this in mind as Part 2 or 3 is coming later this week! Enjoy and please post your comments

Quote of the week

Conquering yourself is greater than winning a thousand battles.

- Buddha


More tomorrow...:)

Are kipping pull-ups cheating?

This is a hot topic in the gym these days.

The answer is no!

To the naked eye kipping pull-ups look like swinging or 'cheater' pull-ups. But done properly kipping pull-ups are a deliberate controlled use of force generated from the hips through the core into the arms. A 'cheater' pull-up is an uncontrolled momentus pendullum like swing that is done by kicking the feet. Creating a 'kip' is somewhat like a power clean or other explosive exercises we use everyday in a power training environment to train work, speed and explosiveness.

What are the benefits? I found a great article from livestrong.com that describes it well. And a youtube.com link underneath it to see what it looks like.

http://www.livestrong.com/article/421607-what-are-the-benefits-of-kipping-pullups/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7spRknkD1hU


Like usual leave your comments and feedback and enjoy!

Weekend Warrior Workout

Hey guys,

Great news! Im now video capable....sort of.

I put together a short clip for the weekend workout demo'ing a proper overhead squat to go along with sit ups in the circuit.

Emily is showing proper form (except for one of the reps ;) on the overhead. Bar stays locked over head with no elbow bend, midline stays in a neutral position and heels remain flat on the floor. Oh...and as ALWAYS hip crease goes below the knee. If you stop at parallel or higher you are more than likely using your knee as a brake and heading for nagging knee issues and under active glute function

Put that with 20 sit ups for 5 rounds and you have a full body banger...enjoy and please post comments

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9Naugx_af8&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Your goals' goals!

Hey guys,

Just a tid bit about goal setting. This was inspired by one of my clients Elise...

I can never stress enough the importance of stating in writing what you what to accomplish. Your goals are a distinct destination. When it comes to our health, distinct destinations are import as we are very good at convincing ourselves and others of half truths. No one is immune to it. We are all human. In business, takes precise goal setting and accounting of those goals to keep profitable. In fitness, without the appropriate goals in the right doses, it takes almost no effort to convince ourselves that we don't feel like eating well and become disinterested in exercise. Simply going to the gym can become enough for most feel like they've achieved something great for themselves once mediocrity has set in.

I challenge each one of you reading right now to look back on the last 6 months of your life and quantitavely explain what you have achieved.

"I'm stronger now," is not a measurable achievement.

"I used to have have flab, now I have fab," is funny but useless. We need a little more exact of an answer.

"I'm down 4% body fat and can do 20 more pushups a minute," is a rocking answer. Simply put, numbers don't lie.

If you can give a detailed answer of your achievements, you've likely committed yourself to a program and are in a good mindset for success. If not, you're literally spending your money on conversations with friends. Let's take a different approach come 2012. It starts with this fitness oriented goal setting strategy.



Step 1: Choose 4 long term (12 month) "functional" goals. These cannot be asthetically based and I'll explain why later. Functional means doing so these must represent achievements which build a better & stronger body you desire.

Goal 1- Commitment- Extremely important since it sets the groundwork for your program. Reading information about diet and exercise everyday is an example of committment. A good idea might be committing yourself to reading a certain trainers blog everyday before working out!

Goal 2- Strength- Think about 1 component of your life which you can see the need for a stronger body. Depending on your interests this can vary from person to person so think personal. What do you need to be stronger at? (It may be picking up your kid or being able to defend yourself) 
Goal 3- Cardiovascular- This could be a specific resting heart rate or a mile time. But the goal must be personalized or you are on the road of disinterest and plateaus.

Goal 4- Nutritional- What is the killer component of your diet? Carbs, sodium, diet coke? Identify it and let's set a strategy to get rid of it. (If diet is pretty spot on, then look towards another strength goal)


How do you know these are the right goals for you? All of them should reflect, if achieved, a better asthetic looking you. All added up you should have no problem picturing yourself in the best shape of your life. Most of all, they should excite you. Don't pick boring goals....THEY WILL BORE YOU!


Step 2: Short-term goals- this is very easy
Write 2 short term goals under each long term one. These are weekly strategies you can instantly implement to move towards the bigger ones. The bigger ones now become your goals' goals.

Here's how to do it: If your goal is to give up sugar, then the 2 short term goals should be directed at eliminating situations where sugar is a danger. Perhaps bringing your own food to work or switching your choice of alchoholic beverage on the weekends would be a good start.

To help better illustrate how to do this exercise here's a general outline of my goals' goals:

Now we have a distinct destination and a road map to get there. Goal setting done! Now the work begins..


For any questions or comments, please email me at mritter@wellbridge.com